Transition time

When I went up to the studio yesterday afternoon I found Carson listening to what this little lamb had to say.  Carson is just the best cat ever.  If you are thinking of a new pet, please consider adopting from the Friends of the Animals of Jessamine County.  They do such wonderful work and I personally know of many success stories concerning animals they've pulled out of shelters and placed in happy homes.  I have no idea what Carson's circumstances were before he came to live with us.  He was about 8 months old and pretty timid around other animals and people.  The only thing that seems to intimidate him now is our witchy female barn cat, Sadie.  She's maybe half his size and is only occasionally pleasant to him, but he's so laid back he usually gives her a look that says,  "What is your problem?"

The last few weeks have felt very much like a time of transition.  Summer is a (somewhat unpleasant) memory and winter is on the horizon (and I'll go on record as saying I really,  really hope we have a winter this year.)  Until today we've had a long stretch of nearly perfect fall weather.  I spent yesterday cleaning up the garden,  taking down the tomato cages and putting away hoses.  The last big rain and wind storm brought down most of the leaves and I need to get busy raking up the yard and putting all those leaves on the garden beds.  The animals have all been busy, busy during daylight hours,  searching,  scratching,  always on the lookout for an extra morsel of food.  They all get fed grain,  but you'd never know it the way they scurry around.  The Dandy family can often be seen together,  teaching the baby how to go about finding food.  He/she is the only surviving chick and gets plenty of supervision.   People ask me all the time about how noisy the peafowl are and at this time of year about the only thing I hear is the peep-peep-peep of the little one.  When Mr. Dandy has his full compliment of tail feathers he makes quite a lot of racket,  alerting us to any and all movement.  We're so accustomed to it now that we rarely even notice.  Once he sheds those feathers in the fall,  it's as though he becomes mute.  He rarely makes a sound.  I think he doesn't want to call attention to himself when his gorgeous feathers are gone.

I'm happy that the holidays are nearly here.  I've begun my Thanksgiving grocery shopping list and made plans for decorating the tables.  It's my favorite time of the year,  though I never do feel as though I'm quite prepared.  I love the decorating and cooking and having family all here at the farm.  Even with everything else that's going on,  I've managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of knitting and hope to get some decent photos to post soon.  As for Christmas knitting ..... I don't have much to say about that  :-(   How about all of you?  Finished already?